Put on Your Dancin' Shoes...

We're putting on our dancing shoes here in the Cheap Seats. But before you tie those laces, let me share my opinion on IU vs. Illinois, round 3. Indiana played like dopes at certain points, blew a great opportunity at the end of regulation, and couldn't pull in enough rebounds -- or do anything -- in overtime. Sure, the officials were dumb, and I hate Illinois, but IU lost that one on their own.

And now...the tournament! First, we'll talk about the #1 seeds. Florida, SEC champs, defending national champs, 29-5 up until now, including two wins over Kentucky and a blowout of Ohio State. Kansas, 30-4, champions of a strong Big 12, wins over Florida and Texas and Texas A&M. North Carolina, 28-6, champions of a VERY strong ACC, swept arch-rival Duke, beat Ohio State back before Greg Oden's wrist healed. Ohio State, 30-3, champions of what some people are calling a mediocre Big Ten, has one of the most dominant front courts and dominant point guards in America, two big wins over Wisconsin. All of these teams are great and could take the glass basketball home.

There is one big common thread through all of these #1 seeds: They won both the regular season and tournaments in their respective conferences. True, Georgetown did the same, but a late-season loss to Syracuse (who we'll discuss in a bit) put the kibosh on their #1 seed. UCLA was in the discussion for a #1, but really weak losses at Washington and vs. Cal in the Pac 10 tournament knocked them down. Memphis would stand a better chance of receiving a #1 if the C-USA weren't terrible this year.

On the other end of the bracket, the list of snubs is quite an impressive one, and they could hold their own tournament that will probably have games just as exciting as those in the real tournament. Oh yeah...they do have that tournament...it's called the NIT and gets all the media attention of a grass field. As for the people who will be contending for that one, the aforementioned Syracuse probably has the best shot at winning. Their toughest competitor in that one will probably be either Big East rival West Virginia, or one of the teams from the SEC West that didn't get to go to the NCAAs. As to why Syracuse is in the NIT, i could only imagine that there are some strange drugs going around the selection committee. Syracuse is tied in the Big East with Marquette and ahead of Villanova, both of whom are in the dance. The Orange also have wins against both of those teams -- at Marquette's home court in that case. Syracuse also has their big win against Georgetown, which is something that neither Marquette nor Villanova can claim. You can imagine that the Orange -- not to mention the ever-vocal Jim Boeheim -- will be mad when they start NIT play and probably crush the heck out everyone who enters the state of New York (excepting Buffalo for the NCAAs).

Other notable snubs are Drexel, who was hurt by a fourth-place finish in the Colonial, West Virginia, who may have gotten snubbed thanks to a missed travel call in the Big East tournament, and Air Force, who simply stopped playing at the end of the season.

So, what does this mean for my most favorite of basketball teams: the Indiana Hoosiers? Well, IU received a #7 seed in the West Region and will take on, for the second year in a row, the #10-seeded Bulldogs of Gonzaga University. Last year's matchup took place as part of the second round of the tournament in Salt Lake City, Utah. Gonzaga came out on top thanks to foul trouble to IU's Marco Killingsworth and Adam Morrison's stellar play to move on to the Sweet Sixteen. This year's first rounder in Sacramento, California, will have a very different look. Gonzaga no longer has Morrison, and their star player Josh Heytvelt has been suspended from the team. There are still quite a few good players on the Bulldogs' roster, but they all happen to be guards. The Dogs' inside game left the team with the marijuana and 'shrooms found in Heytvelt's car. Indiana, however, has quite an impressive inside game. Foul trouble to Mike White made him a non-factor in the Illinois game, but he still had some strong minutes, and DJ white was still able to put up good numbers despite the Illini's defense. Look for IU's lockdown defense to kill the Zags' guard play, and the Whites to knock down the inside shot for IU.

Now, the next couple of games for IU in my bracket my have some people surprised. I have the Hoosiers knocking down a terribly inconsistent UCLA team in the second round and taking down the somewhat less-inconsistent Pittsburgh Panthers in the Sweet Sixteen before losing to Kansas in the Elite Eight. If the Hoosiers play to their potential, I see no reason why this outcome couldn't take place. The trick will be to see if Kelvin Sampson can snap these players out of the funk induced by the seven years of Mike Davis' tutelage.